HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
press on this occasion had applied 
to the British court for its media- 
tion: but its demands on the Turks 
were fuund too exorbitant. This 
answer induced her to relax from 
claims, and to make such proposals 
as, from their moderation, she might 
have a right to insist upon: but 
even these were refused by our mi- 
nistry ; which, however, after long 
and tedious negociations, was fain 
toaccedetothem. The possession 
of Oczakow, he affirmed, either by 
the Turks or the Russians, was a 
consideration wholly foreign to the 
political or commercial interests of 
Great Britain: it could not, there- 
fore, be the real cause of the pro- 
traction of this ruinous war: some 
latent motive kept its conclusion at 
a distance: the probable reason 
was, that the politics of the court 
of Berlin aimed at a stipulation, 
with that of Petersburgh, for per- 
mission to seize the cities of Thern 
and Dantzic, on condition that it 
would not oppose the cession of 
Oczakow to Russia. The issue of 
this unjust and dishonourable inter- 
ference was that of an expensive 
armament; and an arrogant con- 
duct had not prevented the govern- 
ment of this country from submit- 
ting to the condition prescribed by 
Russia, with a degree of implicit- 
ness, not hitherto recorded in our 
transactions with foreign powers. 
—The resolution moved by Mr. 
Whitbread, in consequence of the 
premises, was that Oczakow was 
not of sufficient importance to war- 
rantthe armed interference of Great 
Britain. 
This motion was vigorously op- 
greet by Mr. Jenkinson, the son of 
sord Hawkesbury, in a speech 
which, though the first he had ever 
made in the House, excited un- 
\3 
[137 
common attention and admiration. 
He took an extensive view of the 
circumstances of Europe, as relat- 
ing to Great Britain, and to that 
balance which it was necessitated to 
maintain between its various pow- 
ers:—the strength and influence of 
France being, he said, at an end, 
we had no farther danger to appre- 
hend from that once formidable 
rival ; but a power had succeeded 
to France, no less deserving of at- 
tention from its restless politics and 
ambitious views:—this was Russia; 
of which the conduct proved the 
deep laid designs on the territories 
and independence of her less potent 
neighbours. Her plans of conquest 
on the Turks were notorious. Were 
she suffered toaccomplish them, the 
balance of Europe would be totally 
destroyed, to the manifest injury of 
every state in this quarter of the 
globe. The potentate whose po- 
sition best enabled him to stem this 
torrent, was Prussia; and the wis- 
dom of the British government had 
enabled it, by a seasonable alliance, 
to undertake the task of counter- 
acting the schemes of Russia. The 
Turks were accused of having be- 
gun the present contest: but were 
they not justifiable by the manner 
in which the Crimea was obtained, 
by the revolt promoted in A&gypt, 
through the intrigues of Russia, by 
her haughty and unjust claims to 
some of the fairest provinces of the 
Turkish empire? Britain had al- 
ready mediated successfully for the 
Turks in the late pacification be- 
tween them and the Emperor; and 
her interposition between them and 
Russia, however artfully misrepre- 
sented, had obviated the claims she 
would indubitably have enforced, 
after the many successes that had 
attended her arms. Happily, how- 
ever, 
